The present disclosure relates to the field of simulation systems, three dimensional user interfaces, and terrain repositories and, more particularly, to a voxel approach to terrain repositories for modeling and simulation.
Polygonal modeling has been the standard in three dimensional modeling and terrain representation for over twenty years. Two common polygonal model based techniques that are conventionally used for terrain include regular triangulated networks (RTNs) and triangulated irregular networks (TINs). Regular Triangulated Networks (RTNs) are a computationally-efficient means of capturing all posts in an elevation raster. Triangulated Irregular Networks (TINs) can provide a more natural terrain appearance than RTNs with fewer polygons. Polygonal modeling has enjoyed wide-spread popularity because of its visual realism and its efficiency (at least for terrain modeling based on terrain sensor data having a resolution of one meter or larger ground separation distance between datum points) in data storage and object rendering.
Over the past ten years, visual technology for outputting realistic simulation spaces has improved by leaps and bounds resulting in much greater visual appeal for virtual training simulations. Additionally, dramatic advances have occurred in data acquisition technologies. For example, with the development of precise positioning instruments and inertial navigation systems in the 1980's and 1990s, light detecting and ranging (LiDAR) information became a highly precise and accurate means of collecting elevation samples over a wide geographic area. Similar advances have been made in satellite imagery, unmanned vehicle surveillance devices, and other data acquisition means. Basically, the current state of technology is that an abundance of geospatial data is being generated and a need for precise high fidelity data for driving simulators exists.
Unfortunately, the geometric database representation used for terrain reasoning and information storage has remained relatively stagnant from an innovation perspective. That is, the storage methodologies and techniques for recording and managing a repository of geospatial information have remained largely unimproved.